History of Modern Psychology: From Wundt to Boring
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50 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Hermann Ebbinghaus | First to successfully experiment on higher-mental processes (learning and memory) |
| Nonsense Syllables | Syllables presented in a meaningless series to study memory processes |
| Because it is a basic mental function | Why did Ebbinghaus believe that memory could be studied between subjects despite individual variation? |
| Carl Stumpf | Wundt's major rival, pioneer in the psychological study of music |
| Franz Brentano | Had a system of Psychology (Act Psychology), which focused on mental activities rather than on mental contents |
| Phenomenology | Stumpf's introspective method that examined experience as it occurred and did not try to reduce it to elementary components OR an approach to knowledge based on an unbiased description of immediate experience as it occurs, not analyzed or reduced to elements |
| Oswald Kulpe | Described Psychology as the science of facts of experience that are dependent on the experiencing person, believed thought processes could be studied experimentally |
| Systematic Experimental Introspection | Kulpe's introspective method that used retrospective reports of subjects' cognitive processes after they had completed an experimental task |
| Imageless Thought | Kulpe's idea that meaning in thought can occur without any sensory or imaginal component (opposite of structuralism) |
| Stimulus Error | Confusing the mental process under study with the stimulus or object being observed |
| Structuralism | Investigates the elemental structure of consciousness, involved the systematic breakdown of conscious experience through introspection |
| Edward Titchener | Described Psychology as the science of mental processes, founder of Structuralism, and reformed introspection to conform to the requirements of a science |
| Edwin Boring | Wrote: "A History of Psychology", aimed to unify the different schools through the study of their history |
| Ecclectic | A proposed position to take on the understanding of Psychology by Edwin Boring in which Psychology is made up of the study of: stimuli, phenomenon, and response |
| Functionalism | A school of thought which is concerned with how the mind functions or how it is used by an organism to adapt to its environment. Studied the mind as an accumulation of functions and processes that lead to practical consequences in the real world |
| Functionalism | The first uniquely American system of Psychology, a deliberate protest against Wundt and Titchener |
| Erasamus Darwin | Believed there was a God that set life on the planet in motion along with natural laws which accounted for changes in lifeforms etc. |
| Jean-Baptiste Lamarck | Formulated a behavioural theory of evolution that emphasized the modification of an animal's bodily form through its efforts to adapt to its environment |
| Charles Darwin | Focused on animal psychology, put emphasis on the functions rather than the structure of consciousness, accepted methodology from many fields of science, and focused on the description and measurement of individual difference |
| Hereditary Genius | The name of the book/theory in which Galton attempted to demonstrate that individual greatness or genius occurred within families more than could be accounted for by environmental influences. The idea of inheritable intelligence of specific forms |
| Eugenics | The idea that reproduction should be limited to occur only between individuals with 'good genes' |
| Mental Tests | Tests of motor skills and sensory capacities; intelligence tests use more complex measures of mental abilities |
| Quetelet | Noticed normal distribution and applied it to biological and social data (1796-1874) |
| Sir Francis Galton | Was the first to apply quantitative measures to individual differences among people, and was the first to scientifically examine the senses, fingerprints, and intelligence |
| Midparent | A concept used to predict characteristics of a child based on the characteristics of the parents. eg. [height of father+(height of mother x 1.08)]/(avg of two heights squared) |
| Anthropometric | Name of type of laboratory and study used by Galton where he measured the physical body characteristics of many individuals |
| George John Romanes | Formalized and systematized the study of animal intelligence |
| Anecdotal Method | The use of observational reports about animal behaviour |
| Introspection by Analogy | A technique for studying animal behaviour by assuming that the same mental processes that occur in the observer's mind also occur in the animal's mind |
| C. Lloyd Morgan | Proposed a law of parsimony to counteract the prevailing tendency to attribute excessive intelligence to animals |
| Law of Parsimony (Lloyd Morgan's Canon) | The notion that animal behaviour must not be attributed to a higher mental process when it can be explained in terms of a lower mental process |
| Herbert Spencer | Extended the notion of evolution and the survival of the fittest, introducing the idea that all aspects of the universe are evolutionary |
| Synthetic Philosophy | Herbert Spencer's idea that knowledge and experience can be explained in terms of evolutionary principles |
| William James | Described Psychology as and elaboration of the obvious, and influenced the American Functionalist movement, wrote: "The Principles of Psychology" |
| William James | Wrote with great clarity, opposed Wundt's analysis of the consciousness into elements, and offered an alternative way of looking at the mind congruent with the functional approach to psychology |
| American Functionalism | The school of thought surrounding the idea that the goal of Psychology is not the discovery of the elements of experience, but rather the study of living people as they adapt to their environment (William James' idea) |
| Stream of Consciousness | William James' idea that consciousness is a continuous flowing process, and that any attempt to reduce it to elements will distort it |
| Pragmatism | The doctrine that the validity of ideas is measured by their practical consequences |
| William James | Treated humans as animals, and mental processes as Darwinian, instincts as vestigial traits that result in non-rational behaviour, and that the body can affect consciousness |
| Variability Hypothesis | The notion that men show a wider range and variation of physical and mental development than women; the abilities of women are seen as more average |
| Mary Whiton Calkins | Developed the paired-associate technique and became the first woman president of the APA |
| Granville Stanley Hall | Often referred to as a genetic psychologist, convicted that the normal growth of the mind involved a series of evolutionary stages |
| Recapitulation Theory | Hall's idea that the psychological development of children repeats the history of the human race |
| The Chicago School | Another name for Functionalism so named because of the location of the school of thought's two 'founders': John Dewey, and James Angell |
| John Dewey | Co-founded the Chicago school, and attacked the psychological molecularism, elementism, and reductionism of the reflex arc, did not believe that structure and function could be meaningfully separated |
| Reflex Arc | The connection between sensory stimuli and motor responses |
| James Rowland Angell | Molded the functionalist movement into a working school of thought |
| Functionalism | According to Angell: 1. The psychology of mental operations 2. The psychology of the fundamental utilities of consciousness 3. The psychology of psychophysical relations |
| Harvey A. Carr | elaborated on Angell's theoretical position, helped functionalism reach its peak as a formal system, and maintained that functional psychology was the American psychology |
| Dynamic Psychology | Robert Woodworth's system of psychology, which was concerned with the influence of causal factors and motivations on feelings and behaviour |
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